COLUMBIANA COUNTY, Ohio—

Police said the fires were set intentionally and the person they said is responsible is in jail and facing arson charges.

Wednesday night, police arrested Joseph D. Davis Jr. of East Liverpool after a tip from a witness saying he was acting suspicious around two vacant houses on Anderson Blvd.

Detective Donald Fickes said, "He went into one house and he was only in there for a minute or two. Then he ran into the second house."

While this was happening, witnesses called police with a license plate number and description of Davis.

Officials said while those witnesses were keeping an eye on the situation, those houses caught fire.

Police said because of fast-acting witnesses and a phone call, they were able to track Davis down and take him into custody.

"He later confessed to starting the fires at those locations. He's claiming partial accident and he's claiming he was stealing copper at the time, but no copper was taken and his information doesn't fit the crime," said Fickes.

Officials said the fires were started inside the homes and crews had the flames out in minutes.

While there's not a lot of damage, Davis is now behind bars in the Columbiana County Jail facing arson charges.

Neighbors said it's a relief this man was caught so quickly and that people like Davis should be behind bars.

"I think there's something wrong with those people that do things like that. They don't think about it," said neighbor Howard Merriman. "It's just terrible."

No one was hurt in the fires.

When asked if this man could be connected with recent suspicious fires in the area, officials said they will investigate that possibility.